The Amoy Riots of 1852 325
Consul to issue strict injunctions to these Hong merchants and others,
prohibiting them from entering into arrangements with any agents or
contractors for the kidnapping or hiring of coolies.^26
In reply, John Backhouse proposed discussions on the drafting
of preventive regulations be held between the two parties; but he
asserted that this step could be taken only after the Chinese authorities
had complied with his request to conduct an investigation into the
disturbance and punish the instigators of the riots.^27 To this Daotai
Zhao responded on December 10, saying that a joint inquest had
been conducted on the bodies of the four deceased and the wounds
sustained by Vallancey and a Chinese. Steps were also being taken for
the apprehension and punishment of the guilty parties who wounded
Vallancey. On the other hand, he demanded orders be issued by the
Consul to bring those Englishmen, who had unjustiβiably βired upon the
people, to justice. Referring to the coolie trafβic, the Daotai said there was
a positive law against the emigration of Chinese. Should any natives be
found guilty of infringing this law, the authorities would subject them
to the extreme penalty of the law. There was no need to formulate new
regulations.^28
In Hong Kong, John Bowring had received the report from John
Backhouse as well as other information from unofβicial quarters.
He sensed the gravity of the affair and knew that the exportation of
Chinese laborers and the felonious actions of the agents had adversely
affected what he considered the amicable relations between the British
and Chinese subjects. He thought it desirable to send the Secretary
and Registrar in the Superintendency of Trade, Frederick Harvey, to
investigate the causes of the outbreak and the manner in which coolie
emigration had been carried out in Amoy. The latter sailed on board HMS
steam-sloop Hermes, commanded by Captain E. Gardiner Fishbourne,
and arrived in Amoy on December 12. While in Amoy, Harvey visited the
Acting Marine Magistrate twice, the second time accompanied by Captain
Fishbourne. The mandarin expressed his indignation about the coolie
emigration in general and coolie-brokers in particular. As a man-of-war
had been sent, he thought the present occasion propitious for putting
an end to the illegal trafβic in Chinese coolies that was being carried out
by British merchants. On the Chinese side, they had been actively and
severely prosecuting the nefarious brokers.
- FO 663/56, no. 20, Zhao to Backhouse, 2.12.1852.
- FO 663/57A, no. 28, Backhouse to Zhao, 3.12.1852.
- FO 663/56, no. 21, Zhao to Backhouse, 10.12.1852.